Flight Risk
by JayRain
Summary: A series of "twitter stories" focusing on Anders and his life and experiences in the Circle... and his attempts to escape it.  This summary is longer than any one of the snippets enclosed. T for some violence, just to be safe.


In the name of crazy experimentation and satisfying the Anders plot bunnies that won't leave mea lone, I wrote this... or these. The entire piece is a series of twitterstories, stories or sketches told in 140 characters or less. I didn't count spaces, mostly because I don't use twitter and don't know if it does. But I did count punctuation. Either way, here are several glimpses into Anders and his life in Kinloch Hold. (PS, be grateful it wasn't haiku.)

**_Flight Risk_**

* * *

><p>"He wouldn't tell us his name. We call him Anders, since that's where we picked him up."<p>

Anders. It works. They already took his freedom. They can't have his name, too.

* * *

><p>The chains came off, and he bolted for the door. He thought he'd made it when a blast of energy sent him sprawling. The templar just laughed.<p>

* * *

><p>He only accepts punishment he deserves. The problem is they seem to think he deserves much more, and more often.<p>

* * *

><p>Everyone else looks for mushrooms. He looks for a chance to run. That night the pain keeps him awake.<p>

* * *

><p>No one questioned it when he asked for chamberpot detail. They should have. A stack of filthy pots waits outside to be scrubbed; Anders has run for the docks.<p>

* * *

><p>"If you stop fighting, it won't be so bad."<p>

The First Enchanter smiles. He's trying, really.

But Anders knows he will be damned before he submits.

* * *

><p>Night. The girl in the bunk above him prays. Well, that's what she says when he hears her crying; he tries to comfort her. The templar tells him to shut up and go to sleep.<p>

* * *

><p>He doesn't remember when his birthday is, but knows he must be fifteen by now. Three years in this prison. He decides to celebrate with a swim. Across the lake.<p>

* * *

><p>They chain him to the docks during a storm for that one: since he "likes water so much." He considers drowning himself; they won't let him. They laugh at his desperation.<p>

* * *

><p>A rare trip to the Redcliffe Chantry: he met a boy in templar training. He was surprised at how miserable he was. "I thought templars had fun."<p>

"I thought mages did, too."

* * *

><p>Sixteen; running. He is in better shape than most mages. Good physical condition is discouraged. His got him to Lothering, closer to his phylactery than he's come yet.<p>

* * *

><p>They whisper: Maleficar. He wants to tell them the only blood he's interested in is his own, and only what's in his phylactery. But they'd never listen. They never do.<p>

* * *

><p>It's becomes a game of cat and mouse. He runs. They pounce. He laughs at the punishments. One day he will be the cat.<p>

* * *

><p>Peeta is taken for his Harrowing, but he never comes back. Three days later, Anders sees him helping Owain in the stockroom. Peeta asks what he wants. He has no answer.<p>

* * *

><p>He runs to the top of the tower and bangs at the trapdoor. He screams at it, casts every spell he knows, but it won't open. He would rather leap to his death than be Tranquil.<p>

* * *

><p>Greagoir doesn't want him to be Harrowed, but Irving insists. Anders is successful. Contrary to popular belief, a strong will is actually <em>more<em> useful against demons.

* * *

><p>"I'll see you made Tranquil!" Greagoir screams as Anders is brought back to the Circle.<p>

"Nice try. I'm Harrowed." This time, he's in a solitary cell for a year.

* * *

><p>He nearly made it to Denerim.<p>

Now he's in a solitary cell. Small gap just big enough for a chamber pot or a meal to fit through. Ochre apprentice robes. He stays naked.

* * *

><p>The demons talk to him; they are the only ones that do. But he will not submit. He vowed never to submit to anyone or anything. They're angry, and he smiles to himself.<p>

* * *

><p>Jowan was a blood mage all along. Figures. Everyone suspected Anders; no one suspected <em>him<em>. Jowan runs. In the chaos Anders considers trying but they're ready for him.

* * *

><p>When the templars are rounded up and tortured, Anders tries, but he can't feel bad for them. So he goes down to the basement storage area and reads until it all blows over.<p>

* * *

><p>"Greagoir nearly had the Circle annulled. Everyone, from me to the youngest apprentice, would have been killed."<p>

"They may have liked that," Anders says and leaves.

* * *

><p>Blight: over. Everyone is too busy to pay attention to him; he flees. If he doesn't get his phylactery this time, he will kill himself and anyone who tries to stop him.<p>

* * *

><p>The funny thing is that he wasn't always this way. He was old enough when he was taken that he still has memories of what he was like. And this wasn't it.<p> 


End file.
